A Storm Grows in Brooklyn

AUGUST 9, 2007

On Wednesday morning at 6 AM, I heard crackling thunder RIGHT after flashes of lightning. I popped out of bed knowing that my computer was on, stuff was open and I didn't want to fry everything. I ran upstairs and shut down. The rain was driving sideways on my house and the few windows that were open were letting in this storm. I closed everything and went back to bed. When I woke, everything was chaos. Cars blaring their horns, not knowing as I didn't, that trees were lying across many streets. My neighborhood is made up of 100 year old Victorian homes and many 100 year old Victorian Trees. In the summer they are a natural umbrella from the sun, and in the fall, leaves never stop coming down. As it turns out, it was a tornado that started in Bay Ridge, stopped off in Sunset Park and danced across Victorian Flatbush.
The twister was estimated to have winds of between 111-135 miles an hour. The tornado was a Category 2 on the 0-5 classification scale used by the weather service, in which 5 is the most powerful.
It was the first tornado to hit Brooklyn since modern record keeping began in 1950.
My familyand I took a walk mid morning to see the damage and what we saw was amazing. The NEXT block north, a beautiful one, lost tons of these trees and the cars beneath them. We were lucky but many were not. Today the hum of chainsaws are a welcome sound.

This is a great house.

A pine tree leans on another pretty house.

This is looking at what must have been the path of the storm, Rugby Road between Beverley and Cortelyou.

Checking out the damage.

Snapped at the base. If this is your neighbor, are you annoyed that their tree leans on YOUR house?